The calculator can hold only a few significant digits. When adding a set of positive numbers of widely varying magnitude on a calculator, in order to get the result with the highest precision, one should start at the largest number and add successively smaller ones.

Question

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Starting with the smallest numbers and adding them up before adding the larger numbers helps in preserving the precision of the smaller numbers, as their contribution might be lost due to rounding errors when added after the larger numbers.

The Calculator Can Hold Only a Few Significant Digits